1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to robotic surgical systems. Particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a hand-held user interface for controlling a robotic surgical system.
2. Background of the Related Art
Robotic surgical systems have been used in minimally invasive medical procedures. Some robotic surgical systems included a console supporting a robot arm and a surgical instrument or end effector, such as forceps or a grasping tool, mounted to the robot arm. A mechanical input device having multiple joints was manipulated by surgeons to move the robot arm and/or surgical instrument mounted to the robot arm.
The mechanical input device offered a limited range of motion in which the device could be moved that varied depending on the configuration of joints and rods connecting the joints. Larger ranges of motion were achieved by enlarging the joints and/or rods to increase workspace in which the input device moved and/or upscaling the output motion of the end effector. Enlarging the joints, rods, and/or workspace made the system less easily transportable. Upscaling the end effector motion reduced the precision of micro-movements of the end effector from ergonomically scaled motions of the input device, making the system less precise.
The size of the robotic system and input device may be reduced by using a wireless input device with optical tracking technology, such as light sources and position sensitive detectors, instead of a mechanical input device. While an optical input device would eliminate space requirements of the mechanical rods and joints, the range of motion would still be limited by the properties and configuration of the position detectors and the light sources. Larger ranges of motion were also supported by upscaling the end effector motion and thereby reducing the precision of the surgical system.
There is a need for easily transportable surgical robot input devices having a larger range of motion that also occupy a smaller footprint. There is also a need for optical tracking input devices supporting a larger range of motion that do not reduce the precision of end effector movements through upscaling.